Director Steve McQueen has followed up on “Small Axe,” last year’s narrative anthology series about West Indian immigrants in London, with another series about Black British history: “Uprising,” a three-part documentary series about three related events in 1981 — the New Cross house fire, Black People’s Day of Action and the Brixton riots.
The series, which he co-directed with James Rogan, is now streaming on Amazon Prime, along with two companion documentaries that McQueen executive produced: “Black Power: A British Story of Resistance” and “Subnormal: A British Scandal,” the latter about British education of Black children.
The first episode of “Uprising,” “Fire,” begins with interviews of people present at the party where the New Cross house fire broke out, a tragedy that killed 13 Black teenagers. While it almost feels related to the fictional house party in the “Small Axe” film “Lovers Rock,” McQueen says that they’re completely unrelated, besides...
The series, which he co-directed with James Rogan, is now streaming on Amazon Prime, along with two companion documentaries that McQueen executive produced: “Black Power: A British Story of Resistance” and “Subnormal: A British Scandal,” the latter about British education of Black children.
The first episode of “Uprising,” “Fire,” begins with interviews of people present at the party where the New Cross house fire broke out, a tragedy that killed 13 Black teenagers. While it almost feels related to the fictional house party in the “Small Axe” film “Lovers Rock,” McQueen says that they’re completely unrelated, besides...
- 9/17/2021
- by Selome Hailu
- Variety Film + TV
“This trial is about more than just our freedom,” declares Letitia Wright’s Altheia Jones-LeCointe to the unsteady Shaun Parkes-portrayed Frank Crichlow in Small Axe: Mangrove.
“What is being called into question in this case is the right of anybody, not just Black people, but the right of anybody to demonstrate,” the Black Panther leader says to the Notting Hill restaurant owner as they and the seven other defendants in the Mangrove Nine challenge the prejudices of British justice in the early 1970s-set Steve McQueen miniseries from Amazon. “So I’m not here just defending myself, but trying to defend us all”
Amidst an adroit depiction of the torturous real-life landmark UK discrimination case that turned a bright light on violent police harassment surrounding Crichlow’s joint and the neighborhood, Mangrove was not only directed by the 12 Years a Slave helmer, but also...
“What is being called into question in this case is the right of anybody, not just Black people, but the right of anybody to demonstrate,” the Black Panther leader says to the Notting Hill restaurant owner as they and the seven other defendants in the Mangrove Nine challenge the prejudices of British justice in the early 1970s-set Steve McQueen miniseries from Amazon. “So I’m not here just defending myself, but trying to defend us all”
Amidst an adroit depiction of the torturous real-life landmark UK discrimination case that turned a bright light on violent police harassment surrounding Crichlow’s joint and the neighborhood, Mangrove was not only directed by the 12 Years a Slave helmer, but also...
- 6/28/2021
- by Dominic Patten
- Deadline Film + TV
Editor’s Note: This project is presented by Amazon Prime Video, and the above video is produced by IndieWire’s Creative Producer Leonardo Adrian Garcia.
Steve McQueen has launched movies at Cannes, Venice, and Telluride. He’s received rapturous reviews calling him “masterful” and declaring his work Oscar-bound. But no premiere compared to his anthology series, “Small Axe,” when it hit the BBC and Amazon Prime Video late last year.
“It’s been tremendous. In fact, it’s quite overwhelming and quite emotional, really,” McQueen said. “I never had a debut like this ever.”
As part of their rollout, the director and co-writer of all five films said he was very fortunate, at a time when many festivals were being canceled, to see “Mangrove,” “Lovers Rock,” and “Red, White, and Blue” premiere at the New York Film Festival.
“I was very happy that our film could give that much joy to people,...
Steve McQueen has launched movies at Cannes, Venice, and Telluride. He’s received rapturous reviews calling him “masterful” and declaring his work Oscar-bound. But no premiere compared to his anthology series, “Small Axe,” when it hit the BBC and Amazon Prime Video late last year.
“It’s been tremendous. In fact, it’s quite overwhelming and quite emotional, really,” McQueen said. “I never had a debut like this ever.”
As part of their rollout, the director and co-writer of all five films said he was very fortunate, at a time when many festivals were being canceled, to see “Mangrove,” “Lovers Rock,” and “Red, White, and Blue” premiere at the New York Film Festival.
“I was very happy that our film could give that much joy to people,...
- 6/3/2021
- by Ben Travers
- Indiewire
Michaela Coel’s BBC/HBO series I May Destroy You was the big winner at the UK’s Broadcasting Press Guild Awards on Friday.
The limited series, about a woman piecing together the events of her sexual assault, won Best Drama Series, beating competition from the likes of BBC/Hulu series Normal People and Sky’s I Hate Suzie. Coel also walked away with Best Actress and Best Writer.
Collecting her gongs, Coel said: “Receiving this from the Broadcasting Press Guild is particularly meaningful to me, because this is awarded by journalists, the best of which scrutinize the topic, their opinion of it, and interrogate both the world and themselves, as writers within it. I can identify with this, particularly because I May Destroy You was inspired by my own experiences of sexual assault.”
Elsewhere, David Tennant won Best Actor for portraying serial killer Dennis Nilsen in ITV’s Des,...
The limited series, about a woman piecing together the events of her sexual assault, won Best Drama Series, beating competition from the likes of BBC/Hulu series Normal People and Sky’s I Hate Suzie. Coel also walked away with Best Actress and Best Writer.
Collecting her gongs, Coel said: “Receiving this from the Broadcasting Press Guild is particularly meaningful to me, because this is awarded by journalists, the best of which scrutinize the topic, their opinion of it, and interrogate both the world and themselves, as writers within it. I can identify with this, particularly because I May Destroy You was inspired by my own experiences of sexual assault.”
Elsewhere, David Tennant won Best Actor for portraying serial killer Dennis Nilsen in ITV’s Des,...
- 3/12/2021
- by Jake Kanter
- Deadline Film + TV
BBC dramas “Normal People,” “I May Destroy You,” and “Small Axe” and ITV dramas “Quiz” and “Des” lead the nominations at the 47th edition of the U.K.’s Broadcasting Press Guild (Bpg) TV and streaming Awards.
“Normal People” is nominated for best drama series (5+ episodes), and stars Daisy Edgar-Jones and Paul Mescal as best actor and actress and for the ‘Bpg breakthrough award.’ “Small Axe” receives nominations for best drama series (5+ episodes), best writer, best actor (Shaun Parkes), best actress (Letitia Wright) and the breakthrough award (Amarah-Jae St. Aubin). Michaela Coel is nominated as best actress and best writer for “I May Destroy You,” which also scores a best drama series nomination in the 5+ episodes category.
“Quiz” is shortlisted for best drama series (1-4 episodes), best actor (Matthew Macfadyen) and best writer (James Graham), while “Des” is nominated as best drama (1-4 episodes) and for best actor.
“Roald and...
“Normal People” is nominated for best drama series (5+ episodes), and stars Daisy Edgar-Jones and Paul Mescal as best actor and actress and for the ‘Bpg breakthrough award.’ “Small Axe” receives nominations for best drama series (5+ episodes), best writer, best actor (Shaun Parkes), best actress (Letitia Wright) and the breakthrough award (Amarah-Jae St. Aubin). Michaela Coel is nominated as best actress and best writer for “I May Destroy You,” which also scores a best drama series nomination in the 5+ episodes category.
“Quiz” is shortlisted for best drama series (1-4 episodes), best actor (Matthew Macfadyen) and best writer (James Graham), while “Des” is nominated as best drama (1-4 episodes) and for best actor.
“Roald and...
- 2/18/2021
- by Naman Ramachandran
- Variety Film + TV
After shockingly being snubbed by the Golden Globes, Michaela Coel’s searing BBC/HBO series I May Destroy You has garnered a bunch of nominations for the UK’s Broadcasting Press Guild Awards.
The limited series, about a woman piecing together the events of her sexual assault, has been nominated for Best Drama Series (5+ Episodes), while Coel herself has been nommed for Best Writer and Best Actress.
Another BBC series, Normal People, has also been recognized by journalists of the Bpg. The Sally Rooney adaptation figures in the Best Drama Series (5+ Episodes) category, while stars Paul Mescal and Daisy Edgar-Jones feature in the acting shortlists, as well as both being nominated for the Bpg Breakthrough Award.
The Crown’s Princess Diana, Emma Corrin, is also up for the Breakthrough gong after she shot to fame in the Netflix royal drama. Small Axe’s Amarah-Jae St. Aubyn is vying for the same prize.
The limited series, about a woman piecing together the events of her sexual assault, has been nominated for Best Drama Series (5+ Episodes), while Coel herself has been nommed for Best Writer and Best Actress.
Another BBC series, Normal People, has also been recognized by journalists of the Bpg. The Sally Rooney adaptation figures in the Best Drama Series (5+ Episodes) category, while stars Paul Mescal and Daisy Edgar-Jones feature in the acting shortlists, as well as both being nominated for the Bpg Breakthrough Award.
The Crown’s Princess Diana, Emma Corrin, is also up for the Breakthrough gong after she shot to fame in the Netflix royal drama. Small Axe’s Amarah-Jae St. Aubyn is vying for the same prize.
- 2/18/2021
- by Jake Kanter
- Deadline Film + TV
In Education, the fifth and final of Steve McQueen’s Small Axe films, we’re given a young hero named Kingsley Smith (Kenyah Sandy), whose mother Agnes (Sharlene Whyte) is a nurse, whose father Edmond (Daniel Francis) is a carpenter, and whose sister Stephanie (Tamara Lawrence) is 18 and can read. This last point is not as arbitrary as it may seem. One the feats of McQueen’s movie is that, by the end, the ability to read — proof of having been educated — is all the more powerful for seeming exceptional.
- 12/23/2020
- by K. Austin Collins
- Rollingstone.com
In Education, the fifth and final film in Steve McQueen’s Small Axe anthology, Kenyah Sandy’s young, bespectacled face commands the frame. His character, Kingsley Smith, experiences plenty of adolescent strife at the hands of a negligent education system that shunts him off to a “special” school for the “educationally sub-normal” (Esn) based on poor results from a culturally biased Iq test. He wears a vulnerable, frightened expression whenever he’s powerless to combat cruel, indifferent authority figures or mistaken for lazy when he just needs guidance. McQueen and photographer Shabier Kirchner focus on Sandy’s face partly because he represents an entire generation of Black British children who were in danger of being left behind by colonialist institutions. If it weren’t for a group of crusading West Indian women who actively sought out these children and their parents, they would have been doomed to a fate of...
- 12/18/2020
- by Vikram Murthi
- The Film Stage
The title of fourth of Steve McQueen’s Small Axe films, Alex Wheatle, practically begs of an addendum: It could just as well start with The Miseducation Of. Or, rather, reeducation. The Alex Wheatle that we meet up top, played by Sheyi Cole, is a man who at one point knew almost nothing. He doesn’t know how to take care of his hair. He doesn’t know about Babylon — which is to say, a Britain whose prime quality is its imperial evil. He doesn’t know about cops and why to avoid them,...
- 12/15/2020
- by K. Austin Collins
- Rollingstone.com
“Education.” That’s as good a title as any for the final episode of Steve McQueen’s “Small Axe” project — a series of five features, some little more than an hour, designed to educate and inform audiences about the experience of London’s West Indian immigrant population, about the expectations of assimilation raised by a white-majority country and the obstacles such a society puts in the way of that goal.
To get the picture, audiences needn’t see every entry of this prismatic project, which views the community from different angles at different times over several decades, and this may well prove to be the least watched of the lot, being the last and least starry of them. But do yourself a favor: Don’t miss “Education.” Watch it with your kids — it’s the most accessible to young audiences — and share it with others.
Set in the 1970s, this...
To get the picture, audiences needn’t see every entry of this prismatic project, which views the community from different angles at different times over several decades, and this may well prove to be the least watched of the lot, being the last and least starry of them. But do yourself a favor: Don’t miss “Education.” Watch it with your kids — it’s the most accessible to young audiences — and share it with others.
Set in the 1970s, this...
- 12/11/2020
- by Peter Debruge
- Variety Film + TV
Alex Wheatle, the fourth entry in Steve McQueen’s Small Axe anthology, offers a modest take on the process of unlearning cultural attitudes and biases through the eyes of a naïve teenager. In 1980, Alex Wheatle moves to a social services hostel in Brixton after spending his childhood in a group home, where he was subject to constant abuse from his white peers and caretaker. In Brixton, however, Wheatle finds himself immersed in the Black British community, from which he was displaced growing up in all-white Surrey, where he slowly but surely assimilates the patois, fashion, and most importantly, music of his culture. He quickly witnesses the casual daily oppression his community faces at the hands of the police and participates in the 1981 Brixton uprising for which he is imprisoned.
McQueen limits the scope of his biographical portrait to the relatively short period of Wheatle’s awakening, his transformation from a...
McQueen limits the scope of his biographical portrait to the relatively short period of Wheatle’s awakening, his transformation from a...
- 12/11/2020
- by Vikram Murthi
- The Film Stage
“These are the stars of Andromeda!” Education, the fifth episode of Steve McQueen’s 2020 Small Axe anthology, co-written with Alastair Siddons, sets the tone in outer space. This is a film about strong, formidable performances by women, whose characters take on the systemic wrongs and grinding injustices imposed upon the children in their community.
Twelve-year-old Kingsley Smith (Kenyah Sandy) visits the planetarium with his class and knows then and there that he wants to become an astronaut. In school, they read John Steinbeck’s Great Depression novella Of Mice And Men. When it is Kingsley’s turn, he remains silent. He is called a “big blockhead” by his teacher (Sam Fourness) and his mainly white classmates laugh.
Later, during a music lesson, his harmless acting up is judged “unacceptable” by his prowling and growling teacher Mr. Hamley (Nigel Boyle). While...
Twelve-year-old Kingsley Smith (Kenyah Sandy) visits the planetarium with his class and knows then and there that he wants to become an astronaut. In school, they read John Steinbeck’s Great Depression novella Of Mice And Men. When it is Kingsley’s turn, he remains silent. He is called a “big blockhead” by his teacher (Sam Fourness) and his mainly white classmates laugh.
Later, during a music lesson, his harmless acting up is judged “unacceptable” by his prowling and growling teacher Mr. Hamley (Nigel Boyle). While...
- 12/7/2020
- by Anne-Katrin Titze
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
Steve McQueen’s Small Axe portmanteau of five roughly hourlong films centered on racial issues in second-half 20th century UK wraps up with Education, which, at the end of the day, is what the series is all about: education in terms of the efforts of different segments of the population to begin to understand each other, to cast off ill-informed presumptions and long-entrenched prejudices, creating more opportunities and learning that the “other” should ideally create more possibilities than problems in a newly multi-racial society, if, in the end, citizens can open up to it all. Although British cinema for decades has looked long and hard at class distinctions, investigating racial divides of the past half-century in such a comprehensive way is something quite rare; this alone makes the series something unique. There are takeaways here for every segment of the audience, both domestic and foreign, young and old.
About a...
About a...
- 12/7/2020
- by Todd McCarthy
- Deadline Film + TV
Children are the future, as Whitney Houston famously reminded us, and both have to be fought for, as Steve McQueen so powerfully expresses in “Education,” the fifth and final chapter of “Small Axe,” his anthology for Amazon Studios and the BBC.
In many ways, this is different than anything else in the director’s filmography — it’s the first time he’s had a pre-teen protagonist, for one — but its urgent sense of a community banding together to create opportunity and to dismantle institutionalized racism makes it very much of a piece with the four other films under the “Small Axe” umbrella.
It’s the story of a family, although we begin following young Kingsley Smith, who has dreams of becoming an astronaut and possibly also playing for Tottenham F.C. When it’s clear that he’s having issues reading — his white teacher calls him a “blockhead” in front...
In many ways, this is different than anything else in the director’s filmography — it’s the first time he’s had a pre-teen protagonist, for one — but its urgent sense of a community banding together to create opportunity and to dismantle institutionalized racism makes it very much of a piece with the four other films under the “Small Axe” umbrella.
It’s the story of a family, although we begin following young Kingsley Smith, who has dreams of becoming an astronaut and possibly also playing for Tottenham F.C. When it’s clear that he’s having issues reading — his white teacher calls him a “blockhead” in front...
- 12/7/2020
- by Alonso Duralde
- The Wrap
‘Education’ Review: Steve McQueen’s ‘Small Axe’ Closes with an Inspiring Slice of Kitchen-Sink Drama
In several installments of Steve McQueen’s “Small Axe” anthology, the racism leveled against London’s West Indian population is an overt threat. In “Education,” it simmers in the shadows until someone dares to call it out. An inspiring slice of kitchen sink drama, McQueen’s illuminating look at a clandestine segregation policy in the London school district of the early ‘70s takes the perspective of an innocent child, and wouldn’t look out of place with the sort of social realist exposés Ken Loach has been making for over 50 years. In this case, however, this is an extension of the “Small Axe” mission to fill a historical gap deserving of greater scrutiny, and achieves that goal by serving as a kind of education itself.
When we first meet 12-year-old Kingsley (promising newcomer Kenyah Sandy), he’s entranced by a planetarium filled with stars, his eyes consumed with the possibilities of an unknown world.
When we first meet 12-year-old Kingsley (promising newcomer Kenyah Sandy), he’s entranced by a planetarium filled with stars, his eyes consumed with the possibilities of an unknown world.
- 12/7/2020
- by Eric Kohn
- Indiewire
Steve McQueen’s Alex Wheatle, co-written with Alastair Siddons, shot by Shabier Kirchner with costumes by Jacqueline Durran is episode 4 of his Small Axe anthology. The title character ((Sheyi Cole) is brought to a prison cell where a foul smell awaits him, courtesy of his bunkmate Simeon (Robbie Gee). Remember how Peter Morgan in the very first scene of the first episode of season one of The Crown, directed by Stephen Daldry, repels us with the blood-spitting King George VI (Jared Harris), only to pull us in even more soon after? McQueen is equally good at provoking visceral reactions from the audience. Franco Rosso’s 1980 Babylon, starring Brinsley Forde with music by Dennis Bovell...
- 12/1/2020
- by Anne-Katrin Titze
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
Amazon Prime Video has premiered the trailer for Small Axe: Alex Wheatle, the fourth and penultimate film in Steve McQueen’s Small Axe anthology series for the streaming platform. Alex Wheatle will drop on December 11th, following Mangrove (November 20th), Lovers Rock (November 27th), and Red, White and Blue (December 4th).
Like the other entries in the Small Axe series, Alex Wheatle tells a story within London’s West Indian community from the late Sixties to the mid-Eighties. (The title is derived from the African proverb, “If you are the big tree,...
Like the other entries in the Small Axe series, Alex Wheatle tells a story within London’s West Indian community from the late Sixties to the mid-Eighties. (The title is derived from the African proverb, “If you are the big tree,...
- 11/30/2020
- by Claire Shaffer
- Rollingstone.com
Steve McQueen’s five-film “Small Axe” series was conceived to spotlight underrepresented stories of West Indian Londoners, from the thrill of a 1980 house party in “Lovers Rock” to the tumultuous civil rights battle of “Mangrove.” With “Alex Wheatle,” McQueen centers on a subject whose mission syncs with the project as a whole. In this hourlong origin story about the British Jamaican young adult novelist who found his calling after the 1981 Brixton riot, McQueen and co-writer Alastair Siddons have produced
Compared to some of the other “Small Axe” entries, “Alex Wheatle” occupies a somewhat awkward position within the film and TV media boundary that the anthology pushes up against: It’s not episodic, but feels more like the first act of a larger story begging for further exploration. Nevertheless, with a complex, ever-evolving turn by newcomer Sheyi Cole at its center, the story it does offer up turns on McQueen’s...
Compared to some of the other “Small Axe” entries, “Alex Wheatle” occupies a somewhat awkward position within the film and TV media boundary that the anthology pushes up against: It’s not episodic, but feels more like the first act of a larger story begging for further exploration. Nevertheless, with a complex, ever-evolving turn by newcomer Sheyi Cole at its center, the story it does offer up turns on McQueen’s...
- 11/30/2020
- by Eric Kohn
- Indiewire
“You can’t look forward without looking back.” That’s a valuable piece of advice given to the protagonist of “Alex Wheatle,” but it’s also a summation of what director and co-writer Steve McQueen is doing with his extraordinary “Small Axe” series.
With its vivid portrayals of the horrors of institutionalization, “Alex Wheatle” is perhaps most reminiscent — so far — of the McQueen audiences have come to know in films like “Hunger” and “12 Years a Slave.” But even as its lead character endures physical and psychological torment at the hands of authorities, the film is very much of a piece with the ebullience of “Small Axe,” as the ongoing themes of community, music and defiance play a huge role in the story.
The real-life Wheatle published his first novel in 1999, but the film begins in 1981, with Alex going to prison for his role in the Brixton Riots, in which...
With its vivid portrayals of the horrors of institutionalization, “Alex Wheatle” is perhaps most reminiscent — so far — of the McQueen audiences have come to know in films like “Hunger” and “12 Years a Slave.” But even as its lead character endures physical and psychological torment at the hands of authorities, the film is very much of a piece with the ebullience of “Small Axe,” as the ongoing themes of community, music and defiance play a huge role in the story.
The real-life Wheatle published his first novel in 1999, but the film begins in 1981, with Alex going to prison for his role in the Brixton Riots, in which...
- 11/30/2020
- by Alonso Duralde
- The Wrap
With the arrival of Alex Wheatle, the fourth of five installments that make up Small Axe, Steve McQueen’s adamant and penetrating series of roughly hourlong dramas centering on the Black immigrant community experience in post-World War II Britain, the emerging core concern is the hypocrisy involved in the nation laying out the welcome mat to newcomers in the first place while denying opportunity once they’ve arrived. The theme could hardly be clearer than it is in this episode, which sees the eponymous young lad bounced around for years by social services before becoming involved in the Brixton Uprising of April 1981. The reason we’re seeing a film about him now is that, some years later, Wheatle emerged as a successful writer.
Ferocious police brutality by the London police is a recurring hallmark in McQueen’s compelling series; the authorities shut down a popular Caribbean restaurant in Mangrove and...
Ferocious police brutality by the London police is a recurring hallmark in McQueen’s compelling series; the authorities shut down a popular Caribbean restaurant in Mangrove and...
- 11/30/2020
- by Todd McCarthy
- Deadline Film + TV
Small Axe Trailer — Steve McQueen‘s Small Axe (2020) TV mini-series trailer has been released by Amazon Prime Video and stars Letitia Wright, Shaun Parkes, John Boyega, Malachi Kirby, Rochenda Sandall, Alex Jennings, Jack Lowden, Micheal Ward, and Amarah-Jae St. Aubyn. Crew McQueen, Alastair Siddons, and Courttia Newland wrote the screenplays for [...]
Continue reading: Small Axe (2020) TV Mini-series Trailer: Great Britain-set Equal Rights Movement Anthology from Steve McQueen [Amazon]...
Continue reading: Small Axe (2020) TV Mini-series Trailer: Great Britain-set Equal Rights Movement Anthology from Steve McQueen [Amazon]...
- 11/10/2020
- by Rollo Tomasi
- Film-Book
‘If you are the big tree, we are the small axe’
Made famous by Bob Marley and the Wailers’ 1973 song ‘Small Axe’, that’s the traditional proverb behind the title for a five-film series by Oscar-winning British director Steve McQueen.
Two of McQueen’s Small Axe films were selected for this year’s Cannes Film Festival and in October, one opened the 64th London Film Festival. Now, all five are coming straight to BBC One and iPlayer in the UK, and Amazon Prime Video around the world. The home release has nothing to do with the pandemic; it was always the plan for these feature-length films with a cast including Star Wars’ John Boyega and Black Panther’s Letitia Wright, to air for a mainstream audience on prime time UK television.
11 years in the making, the five films were funded by BBC Studios and made to celebrate key figures in...
Made famous by Bob Marley and the Wailers’ 1973 song ‘Small Axe’, that’s the traditional proverb behind the title for a five-film series by Oscar-winning British director Steve McQueen.
Two of McQueen’s Small Axe films were selected for this year’s Cannes Film Festival and in October, one opened the 64th London Film Festival. Now, all five are coming straight to BBC One and iPlayer in the UK, and Amazon Prime Video around the world. The home release has nothing to do with the pandemic; it was always the plan for these feature-length films with a cast including Star Wars’ John Boyega and Black Panther’s Letitia Wright, to air for a mainstream audience on prime time UK television.
11 years in the making, the five films were funded by BBC Studios and made to celebrate key figures in...
- 11/10/2020
- by Louisa Mellor
- Den of Geek
Letitia Wright gives an Oscar-worthy performance as Altheia Jones-LeCointe in Steve McQueen’s Mangrove, shot by Shabier Kirchner
In Lovers Rock (Opening Night Gala selection of New York Film Festival) there is the Blues party, in Mangrove (London’s Opening Night) there are the police raids, protests, and courtroom scenes, and in Red, White And Blue (Main Slate) there is the intimate family dynamics and the harsh reality of being a Black policeman. Shabier Kirchner is the master of filming crowd scenes, the communication of enjoyment, as well as rage in these three films (in the Small Axe anthology), directed by Steve McQueen.
Micheal Ward and Amarah-Jae St Aubyn in Steve McQueen’s Lovers Rock
At the New York Film Festival Making of Small Axe Free Talk presented by HBO with screenwriters Courttia Newland and Alastair Siddons, Mangrove stars Shaun Parkes and Letitia Wright, Steve McQueen and Shabier Kirchner and...
In Lovers Rock (Opening Night Gala selection of New York Film Festival) there is the Blues party, in Mangrove (London’s Opening Night) there are the police raids, protests, and courtroom scenes, and in Red, White And Blue (Main Slate) there is the intimate family dynamics and the harsh reality of being a Black policeman. Shabier Kirchner is the master of filming crowd scenes, the communication of enjoyment, as well as rage in these three films (in the Small Axe anthology), directed by Steve McQueen.
Micheal Ward and Amarah-Jae St Aubyn in Steve McQueen’s Lovers Rock
At the New York Film Festival Making of Small Axe Free Talk presented by HBO with screenwriters Courttia Newland and Alastair Siddons, Mangrove stars Shaun Parkes and Letitia Wright, Steve McQueen and Shabier Kirchner and...
- 10/4/2020
- by Anne-Katrin Titze
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
What distinguishes Steve McQueen’s Red, White And Blue, co-written with Courttia Newland, from their collaboration on portraying a Blues party in Lovers Rock, and McQueen’s Mangrove on the Mangrove Nine, co-written with Alastair Siddons (all three screening in the Main Slate programme of the New York Film Festival), is the use of songs in the soundtrack. Mica Levi is the composer for the extraordinary Small Axe anthology, and here Gloria Jones, Afrika Bambaataa (Planet Rock), Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five (White Lines after Liquid Liquid’s Cavern), Al Green, and Billy Joel mark time and comment on the relationship between Leroy Logan (John Boyega) and his father (Steve Toussaint).
A young Leroy (Nathan Vidal) in school uniform waits for his father to pick him up after music lessons. Two white policemen come up to the little boy to search him and his...
A young Leroy (Nathan Vidal) in school uniform waits for his father to pick him up after music lessons. Two white policemen come up to the little boy to search him and his...
- 10/4/2020
- by Anne-Katrin Titze
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
Two films capture the volatile climate with race relations in Great Britain during the mid-Seventies into the early Eighties: Franco Rosso’s 1980 feature Babylon, starring Brinsley Forde with a score by Dennis Bovell, and Rubika Shah's ever more urgent White Riot (2019 London documentary winner). The latter focuses on the evolution of Rock Against Racism in 1976, which led to the 1978 Victoria Park concert, featuring Steel Pulse, The Clash, Tom Robinson, Jimmy Pursey of Sham 69, and Poly Styrene of X-Ray Spex.
Steve McQueen’s Mangrove, co-written with Alastair Siddons, starring Shaun Parkes, Letitia Wright, and Malachi Kirby, and shot by Shabier Kirchner, is neither of the period, nor a documentary, (as are the respective films mentioned above) and yet, it manages to convey a vivid sense of time, place, and community, plus the critical...
Steve McQueen’s Mangrove, co-written with Alastair Siddons, starring Shaun Parkes, Letitia Wright, and Malachi Kirby, and shot by Shabier Kirchner, is neither of the period, nor a documentary, (as are the respective films mentioned above) and yet, it manages to convey a vivid sense of time, place, and community, plus the critical...
- 9/26/2020
- by Anne-Katrin Titze
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
Mangrove, the second film from Steve McQueen’s Small Axe anthology series to premiere at the 58th NYFF, covers the incidents precipitating, and including, the trial of the Mangrove Nine, a group of British Black activists unduly tried for inciting a riot during a demonstration against the Metropolitan Police. The Mangrove, a West Indian restaurant in the Notting Hill area, was a crucial space for the surrounding Black community, and was the meeting place for many prominent intellectuals and Black Panther activists, like Darcus Howe (Malachi Kirby), Altheia Jones-LeCointe (Letitia Wright), and Barbara Beese (Rochenda Sandall). The Metropolitan Police sought fit to constantly harass its owner, Frank Crichlow (Shaun Parkes), and repeatedly raid the restaurant under suspicion of gambling, prostitution, and drug use. When a protest against the police turned violent, Crichlow and other community members find themselves on trial defending their right to exist against a colonialist system all...
- 9/25/2020
- by Vikram Murthi
- The Film Stage
“Never count out an oppressed population” and “never count out a played-out genre” are just two of the notions that stayed with me after watching “Mangrove,” one of a five-part series of period films by Steve McQueen about London’s West Indian community.
It’s a movie about a real-life injustice followed by a courtroom drama, and if a long history of hacky biopics and feel-good activist cinema made you think this kind of story was beyond telling on film with power or efficacy, McQueen proves that there’s still a way to do it right. The tale of the Mangrove Nine was relevant in the late 1960s and early 1970s when it actually happened, it was relevant when McQueen and Alastair Siddons (“Tomb Raider” 2018) sat down to write about it, and it’s relevant today, tomorrow, and in the future, as unchecked police brutality continues to rain down on communities of color.
It’s a movie about a real-life injustice followed by a courtroom drama, and if a long history of hacky biopics and feel-good activist cinema made you think this kind of story was beyond telling on film with power or efficacy, McQueen proves that there’s still a way to do it right. The tale of the Mangrove Nine was relevant in the late 1960s and early 1970s when it actually happened, it was relevant when McQueen and Alastair Siddons (“Tomb Raider” 2018) sat down to write about it, and it’s relevant today, tomorrow, and in the future, as unchecked police brutality continues to rain down on communities of color.
- 9/25/2020
- by Alonso Duralde
- The Wrap
If Lovers Rock provided a sensuous, feel-good vibe to the opening night of this year’s unusual New York Film Festival, Mangrove supplies a follow-up thwack to the head and punch to the gut. When Steve McQueen’s ambitious, five-part Small Axe miniseries is presented on Amazon Prime beginning November 20, Mangrove will be in the lead-off position (with Lovers Rock following the second week) and leave no doubt as to the project’s serious, hard-hitting objectives in painting a panoramic portrait of racial realities for London’s West Indian immigrant population from the late 1960s through the early 1980s.
Long since gentrified, Notting Hill was in steep decline after World War II and in 1958 was the scene of severe race riots. After running a fashionable café in the neighborhood for a decade, islands-born Frank Crichlow (Shaun Parkes) in 1968 opened the cozy titular establishment, specializing in Caribbean cuisine like curries, and crab and dumplings.
Long since gentrified, Notting Hill was in steep decline after World War II and in 1958 was the scene of severe race riots. After running a fashionable café in the neighborhood for a decade, islands-born Frank Crichlow (Shaun Parkes) in 1968 opened the cozy titular establishment, specializing in Caribbean cuisine like curries, and crab and dumplings.
- 9/25/2020
- by Todd McCarthy
- Deadline Film + TV
It’s not every year a major film festival offers the world premiere of a major auteur’s new project for free, which makes the New York Film Festival’s decision to offer free tickets to Steve McQueen’s “Mangrove” a notable one. The festival has announced all remaining tickets to the September 25 world premiere screening of “Mangrove” will be free “in recognition of current events, the injustice of the Breonna Taylor ruling, and the courageous efforts of protestors around the globe.”
“Mangrove” stars “Black Panther” favorite Letitia Wright opposite Shaun Parkes, Malachi Kirby, Jack Lowden, and more. McQueen, who co-wrote the film with Alastair Siddons, recreates the true story of the Mangrove Nine, a group of Black British activists who were arrested for inciting a riot during a 1970 protest against the police. The film covers the protest and the 55-day trial. “Mangrove” is one of five movies that make...
“Mangrove” stars “Black Panther” favorite Letitia Wright opposite Shaun Parkes, Malachi Kirby, Jack Lowden, and more. McQueen, who co-wrote the film with Alastair Siddons, recreates the true story of the Mangrove Nine, a group of Black British activists who were arrested for inciting a riot during a 1970 protest against the police. The film covers the protest and the 55-day trial. “Mangrove” is one of five movies that make...
- 9/25/2020
- by Zack Sharf
- Indiewire
With Lovers Rock, the first part of Steve McQueen’s forthcoming anthology Small Axe, having premiered at the 58th New York Film Festival, many have wondered how to classify this project. Well, the director gave a definitive answer. “These are five features,” McQueen said in his recent NYFF press conference.”In a perfect world, I would love people to see these films in the cinema, absolutely, but we are living in these times [with] TVs and how people can use this equipment in high quality ways. But there is nothing for me that can beat going to the cinema and viewing with a community of people.”
Now, Amazon Studios has solidified his intention by announcing the release plans for the Small Axe features, and rather than all arriving at once as has become the norm in this new age of streaming, they will rollout weekly beginning this November.
Deadline reports that on November 20, Mangrove,...
Now, Amazon Studios has solidified his intention by announcing the release plans for the Small Axe features, and rather than all arriving at once as has become the norm in this new age of streaming, they will rollout weekly beginning this November.
Deadline reports that on November 20, Mangrove,...
- 9/20/2020
- by Leonard Pearce
- The Film Stage
The BFI London Film Festival in partnership with American Express has announced that this year’s Opening film will be ‘Mangrove’, directed by the multi-award-winning visual artist and filmmaker Steve McQueen.
Marking 50 years since the events depicted in the film, Mangrove tells the true story of the Mangrove 9, the group of Black activists who clashed with London police during a protest march in 1970 and their highly publicised trial that followed. The trial was the first judicial acknowledgement of behaviour motivated by racial hatred within the Metropolitan Police.
The film is one of five films from Small Axe, a drama anthology which comprises five original films created by Steve McQueen for BBC One.
Also in news – Ben Affleck confirmed to reprise Batman role in ‘The Flash’
Co-written by McQueen and Alastair Siddons. the film stars Letitia Wright, Shaun Parkes and Malachi Kirby.
The film will receive its European premiere on Wednesday...
Marking 50 years since the events depicted in the film, Mangrove tells the true story of the Mangrove 9, the group of Black activists who clashed with London police during a protest march in 1970 and their highly publicised trial that followed. The trial was the first judicial acknowledgement of behaviour motivated by racial hatred within the Metropolitan Police.
The film is one of five films from Small Axe, a drama anthology which comprises five original films created by Steve McQueen for BBC One.
Also in news – Ben Affleck confirmed to reprise Batman role in ‘The Flash’
Co-written by McQueen and Alastair Siddons. the film stars Letitia Wright, Shaun Parkes and Malachi Kirby.
The film will receive its European premiere on Wednesday...
- 8/25/2020
- by Zehra Phelan
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
Mangrove Courtesy of the BBC
The BFI London Film Festival in partnership with American Express is thrilled to announce that this year’s Opening film will be Mangrove, directed by the multi-award-winning visual artist and filmmaker Steve McQueen, starring Letitia Wright, Shaun Parkes and Malachi Kirby. The film will receive its European premiere on Wednesday 7th October as part of the Festival’s innovative 12-day offering which takes the entire Festival out to cities around the UK, and with many films across programme also available for virtual premieres at home.
Marking 50 years since the events depicted in the film, Mangrove tells the true story of the Mangrove 9, the group of Black activists who clashed with London police during a protest march in 1970 and their highly publicised trial that followed. The trial was the first judicial acknowledgment of behaviour motivated by racial hatred within the Metropolitan Police. Mangrove is co-written by Steve McQueen and Alastair Siddons.
The BFI London Film Festival in partnership with American Express is thrilled to announce that this year’s Opening film will be Mangrove, directed by the multi-award-winning visual artist and filmmaker Steve McQueen, starring Letitia Wright, Shaun Parkes and Malachi Kirby. The film will receive its European premiere on Wednesday 7th October as part of the Festival’s innovative 12-day offering which takes the entire Festival out to cities around the UK, and with many films across programme also available for virtual premieres at home.
Marking 50 years since the events depicted in the film, Mangrove tells the true story of the Mangrove 9, the group of Black activists who clashed with London police during a protest march in 1970 and their highly publicised trial that followed. The trial was the first judicial acknowledgment of behaviour motivated by racial hatred within the Metropolitan Police. Mangrove is co-written by Steve McQueen and Alastair Siddons.
- 8/24/2020
- by Michelle Hannett
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
The BFI London Film Festival’s (Oct 7 – 18) opening film will be Steve McQueen’s race drama Mangrove, starring Letitia Wright, Shaun Parkes and Malachi Kirby.
The film will get its European premiere on Wednesday 7 October as part of the festival’s 12-day hybrid physical and online program.
Marking 50 years since the events depicted in the film, Mangrove tells the true story of the Mangrove 9, the group of Black activists who clashed with London police during a protest march in 1970 and their highly publicized trial that followed. The trial was the first judicial acknowledgment of behavior motivated by racial hatred within the Metropolitan Police.
Pic is co-written by Steve McQueen and Alastair Siddons. It is one of the five films from McQueen’s Small Axe series, a drama anthology for BBC One, which will air this fall on the BBC and on Amazon Prime Video in the U.S.
Mangrove and...
The film will get its European premiere on Wednesday 7 October as part of the festival’s 12-day hybrid physical and online program.
Marking 50 years since the events depicted in the film, Mangrove tells the true story of the Mangrove 9, the group of Black activists who clashed with London police during a protest march in 1970 and their highly publicized trial that followed. The trial was the first judicial acknowledgment of behavior motivated by racial hatred within the Metropolitan Police.
Pic is co-written by Steve McQueen and Alastair Siddons. It is one of the five films from McQueen’s Small Axe series, a drama anthology for BBC One, which will air this fall on the BBC and on Amazon Prime Video in the U.S.
Mangrove and...
- 8/24/2020
- by Andreas Wiseman
- Deadline Film + TV
The European premiere of Mangrove will kick off the festival on Wednesday October 7.
The European premiere of Steve McQueen’s Mangrove will open the 2020 BFI London Film Festival (Lff) on Wednesday October 7.
Mangrove is one of five films from the director’s Small Axe anthology created for BBC One, and stars Letitia Wright, Shaun Parkes and Malachi Kirby. It tells the story of the Mangrove 9, the group of Black activists who clashed with London police during a protest march in 1970 and their highly publicised trial that followed.
Mangrove will play for free to festival audiences at BFI Southbank and in selected cinemas across the UK.
The European premiere of Steve McQueen’s Mangrove will open the 2020 BFI London Film Festival (Lff) on Wednesday October 7.
Mangrove is one of five films from the director’s Small Axe anthology created for BBC One, and stars Letitia Wright, Shaun Parkes and Malachi Kirby. It tells the story of the Mangrove 9, the group of Black activists who clashed with London police during a protest march in 1970 and their highly publicised trial that followed.
Mangrove will play for free to festival audiences at BFI Southbank and in selected cinemas across the UK.
- 8/24/2020
- by 1101184¦Orlando Parfitt¦38¦
- ScreenDaily
“Mangrove,” directed by BAFTA and Oscar winner Steve McQueen (“12 Years a Slave”), will open the 64th edition of the British Film Institute London Film Festival.
Written by McQueen and Alastair Siddons, “Mangrove” is one of five films that make up the “Small Axe” anthology. Set from the late 1960s to the mid-1980s, the films each tell a different story involving London’s West Indian community. Other films in the “Small Axe” anthology are “Lovers Rock,” “Education,” “Alex Wheatle” and “Red, White and Blue.”
Marking 50 years since the events depicted in the film, “Mangrove” tells the true story of the Mangrove 9, the group of Black activists who clashed with London police during a protest march in 1970 and their highly publicized trial that followed.
The cast includes Letitia Wright (“Black Panther”), Shaun Parkes (“Lost in Space”), Malachi Kirby (“Curfew”), Rochenda Sandall (“Line of Duty”), Jack Lowden (“The Long Song”), Sam Spruell...
Written by McQueen and Alastair Siddons, “Mangrove” is one of five films that make up the “Small Axe” anthology. Set from the late 1960s to the mid-1980s, the films each tell a different story involving London’s West Indian community. Other films in the “Small Axe” anthology are “Lovers Rock,” “Education,” “Alex Wheatle” and “Red, White and Blue.”
Marking 50 years since the events depicted in the film, “Mangrove” tells the true story of the Mangrove 9, the group of Black activists who clashed with London police during a protest march in 1970 and their highly publicized trial that followed.
The cast includes Letitia Wright (“Black Panther”), Shaun Parkes (“Lost in Space”), Malachi Kirby (“Curfew”), Rochenda Sandall (“Line of Duty”), Jack Lowden (“The Long Song”), Sam Spruell...
- 8/24/2020
- by Naman Ramachandran
- Variety Film + TV
Amazon Prime Video released the trailer for Mangrove, directed by Steve McQueen, the first film in a planned five-part anthology series from the British filmmaker titled Small Axe.
Mangrove, Lovers Rock, and Red, White, and Blue will premiere during this year’s 58th New York Film Festival. Mangrove is coming to Amazon later this year.
Mangrove commemorates the 50th anniversary of the Mangrove March, where 150 protesters of West Indian, African and South Asian heritage clashed with police in the West London neighborhood of Notting Hill on August 9th, 1970.
The demonstrators...
Mangrove, Lovers Rock, and Red, White, and Blue will premiere during this year’s 58th New York Film Festival. Mangrove is coming to Amazon later this year.
Mangrove commemorates the 50th anniversary of the Mangrove March, where 150 protesters of West Indian, African and South Asian heritage clashed with police in the West London neighborhood of Notting Hill on August 9th, 1970.
The demonstrators...
- 8/7/2020
- by Claire Shaffer
- Rollingstone.com
When it comes to the world of filmmaking this year, Steve McQueen is returning 2020’s most ambitious project. The filmmaker has crafted an anthology series titled Small Axe made up of five feature films. Produced by BBC and Amazon Prime Video, each one is directed and co-written by the 12 Years a Slave helmer. With two films part of the Cannes Film Festival 2020 selections, three of them will make their world premieres at the 58th New York Film Festival and now we have the first trailer for the project, featuring one of the films, Mangrove.
Mangrove is the true story of the Mangrove 9, a group of Black activists who clashed with London police during a protest march in 1970, and the highly publicized trial that followed. The trial was the first judicial acknowledgment of behavior motivated by racial hatred within the Metropolitan Police. Letitia Wright (Black Panther), Shaun Parkes (Lost in Space...
Mangrove is the true story of the Mangrove 9, a group of Black activists who clashed with London police during a protest march in 1970, and the highly publicized trial that followed. The trial was the first judicial acknowledgment of behavior motivated by racial hatred within the Metropolitan Police. Letitia Wright (Black Panther), Shaun Parkes (Lost in Space...
- 8/7/2020
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
The first trailer for Steve McQueen’s “Small Axe” dropped Friday, teasing the Letitia Wright-led “Mangrove,” one of the five films featured in the “12 Years a Slave” filmmaker’s upcoming Amazon Prime Video/BBC anthology series.
Per Amazon, “McQueen’s Mangrove tells this true story of the Mangrove 9, a group of Black activists who clashed with London police during a protest march in 1970, and the highly publicized trial that followed. The trial was the first judicial acknowledgment of behavior motivated by racial hatred within the Metropolitan Police.”
Watch the trailer above, in which Wright’s character leads the fight against police brutality and racial injustice.
Wright, Shaun Parkes, and Malachi Kirby star in “Mangrove” alongside Rochenda Sandall, Jack Lowden, Sam Spruell, Gershwyn Eustache Jnr, Nathaniel Martello-White, Richie Campbell, Jumayn Hunter and Gary Beadle.
Also Read: 'Utopia' Cast Promises Amazon Drama's Pandemic Storyline Won't Get Too Real...
Per Amazon, “McQueen’s Mangrove tells this true story of the Mangrove 9, a group of Black activists who clashed with London police during a protest march in 1970, and the highly publicized trial that followed. The trial was the first judicial acknowledgment of behavior motivated by racial hatred within the Metropolitan Police.”
Watch the trailer above, in which Wright’s character leads the fight against police brutality and racial injustice.
Wright, Shaun Parkes, and Malachi Kirby star in “Mangrove” alongside Rochenda Sandall, Jack Lowden, Sam Spruell, Gershwyn Eustache Jnr, Nathaniel Martello-White, Richie Campbell, Jumayn Hunter and Gary Beadle.
Also Read: 'Utopia' Cast Promises Amazon Drama's Pandemic Storyline Won't Get Too Real...
- 8/7/2020
- by Jennifer Maas
- The Wrap
Amazon Prime has shared the first trailer for Steve McQueen’s upcoming anthology project “Small Axe,” which consists of films different films all directed by the “Shame” and “12 Years a Slave” Oscar winner. The first look footage below all comes from the installment “Mangrove.” Starring “Black Panther” favorite Letitia Wright, “Mangrove” is an official selection of the Cannes Film Festival and the New York Film Festival. “Small Axe” is McQueen’s first television project and “Mangrove” marks the first new McQueen footage to debut following the 2018 release of the director’s “Widows.”
Per an official Amazon synopsis, “Mangrove” tells the “true story of the Mangrove 9, a group of Black activists who clashed with London police during a protest march in 1970, and the highly publicized trial that followed. The trial was the first judicial acknowledgment of behavior motivated by racial hatred within the Metropolitan Police.” Starring opposite Wright is a cast that includes Shaun Parkes,...
Per an official Amazon synopsis, “Mangrove” tells the “true story of the Mangrove 9, a group of Black activists who clashed with London police during a protest march in 1970, and the highly publicized trial that followed. The trial was the first judicial acknowledgment of behavior motivated by racial hatred within the Metropolitan Police.” Starring opposite Wright is a cast that includes Shaun Parkes,...
- 8/7/2020
- by Zack Sharf
- Indiewire
Sunday August 9 marks 50th anniversary of Mangrove protest.
The first trailer for Mangrove, part of Steve McQueen’s Small Axe film series, has been released ahead of the film’s launch on BBC One in the UK on Sunday, August 9.
It marks the 50th anniversary of the Mangrove protests, which saw 150 protestors of West Indian, African, and South Asian heritage in Notting Hill, west London march to local police stations in protest of police harassment in their communities.
Nine protestors were arrested and charged with incitement to riot, with the group later becoming known as the Mangrove 9.
The film tells...
The first trailer for Mangrove, part of Steve McQueen’s Small Axe film series, has been released ahead of the film’s launch on BBC One in the UK on Sunday, August 9.
It marks the 50th anniversary of the Mangrove protests, which saw 150 protestors of West Indian, African, and South Asian heritage in Notting Hill, west London march to local police stations in protest of police harassment in their communities.
Nine protestors were arrested and charged with incitement to riot, with the group later becoming known as the Mangrove 9.
The film tells...
- 8/7/2020
- by 1101321¦Ben Dalton¦26¦
- ScreenDaily
U.K. broadcaster BBC One has released a punchy trailer for “Mangrove,” one of five films from the “Small Axe” anthology by Oscar and BAFTA winner Steve McQueen (“12 Years a Slave”).
Aug. 9 marks the 50th anniversary of the day in 1970 when 150 protesters of West Indian, African and South Asian heritage in Notting Hill, West London, marched to local police stations in protest of police harassment in their communities, including the Mangrove restaurant. Nine protest leaders were arrested and charged with incitement to riot: Frank Crichlow, Darcus Howe, Altheia Jones-LeCointe, Barbara Beese, Rupert Boyce, Rhodan Gordon, Anthony Innis, Rothwell Kentish and Godfrey Millett. The group later became known as the ‘Mangrove 9.’
“It was a march necessitated by relentless police brutality in Notting Hill,” said McQueen. “To commemorate the bravery of these community activists and the nine who went on to be acquitted of incitement to riot with the judge citing ‘evidence of racial hatred,...
Aug. 9 marks the 50th anniversary of the day in 1970 when 150 protesters of West Indian, African and South Asian heritage in Notting Hill, West London, marched to local police stations in protest of police harassment in their communities, including the Mangrove restaurant. Nine protest leaders were arrested and charged with incitement to riot: Frank Crichlow, Darcus Howe, Altheia Jones-LeCointe, Barbara Beese, Rupert Boyce, Rhodan Gordon, Anthony Innis, Rothwell Kentish and Godfrey Millett. The group later became known as the ‘Mangrove 9.’
“It was a march necessitated by relentless police brutality in Notting Hill,” said McQueen. “To commemorate the bravery of these community activists and the nine who went on to be acquitted of incitement to riot with the judge citing ‘evidence of racial hatred,...
- 8/7/2020
- by Naman Ramachandran
- Variety Film + TV
Steve McQueen’s new film, Lovers Rock, will have its world premiere when it opens the 58th New York Film Festival, which is still set to take place this fall with various Covid-19 safety precautions in place.
Lovers Rock is one of five films in the Oscar-winning director’s new Small Axe anthology, which will arrive in full on Amazon Prime Video in the U.S. and BBC One in the U.K. later this year. The films are set between the late-Sixties and mid-Eighties, and each one, per a press release,...
Lovers Rock is one of five films in the Oscar-winning director’s new Small Axe anthology, which will arrive in full on Amazon Prime Video in the U.S. and BBC One in the U.K. later this year. The films are set between the late-Sixties and mid-Eighties, and each one, per a press release,...
- 8/3/2020
- by Jon Blistein
- Rollingstone.com
Following his crime thriller Widows, Steve McQueen is returning this year with a project of great ambition and scope. Small Axe, an anthology series from BBC and Amazon Prime Video, is made up of five new feature films, each one directed and co-written by the 12 Years a Slave helmer. While it was revealed that two of the films were originally set to premiere as part of the Cannes Film Festival 2020 lineup, it’s now been announced where they will make their world premieres, along with another film in the anthology.
Film at Lincoln Center’s New York Film Festival has unveiled that one of the films in the anthology, Lovers Rock (pictured below), will be the Opening Night film of the 58th edition, while two others––Mangrove and Red, White and Blue (pictured above)––will premiere in the festival’s Main Slate. Set from the late 1960s to the mid-1980s,...
Film at Lincoln Center’s New York Film Festival has unveiled that one of the films in the anthology, Lovers Rock (pictured below), will be the Opening Night film of the 58th edition, while two others––Mangrove and Red, White and Blue (pictured above)––will premiere in the festival’s Main Slate. Set from the late 1960s to the mid-1980s,...
- 8/3/2020
- by Leonard Pearce
- The Film Stage
Steve McQueen’s “Lovers Rock” will be the opening night film for the 2020 New York Film Festival, Film at Lincoln Center announced Monday.
The 58th edition of NYFF kicks off on September 25 with the latest from the “12 Years a Slave” director. And “Lovers Rock,” which will make its world premiere, is one of five films as part of an anthology from McQueen called “Small Axe.” All five movies, including “Mangrove,” “Lovers Rock,” “Alex Wheatle,” “Education” and “Red, White and Blue,” are set to premiere on BBC One later this year and on Amazon Prime Video in the U.S.
Two other films as part of McQueen’s anthology, “Mangrove” and “Red, White and Blue,” will also have their world premieres as part of the festival. The full main slate for the New York Film Festival will be announced in the coming weeks.
Also Read: Toronto Film Festival Lineup to...
The 58th edition of NYFF kicks off on September 25 with the latest from the “12 Years a Slave” director. And “Lovers Rock,” which will make its world premiere, is one of five films as part of an anthology from McQueen called “Small Axe.” All five movies, including “Mangrove,” “Lovers Rock,” “Alex Wheatle,” “Education” and “Red, White and Blue,” are set to premiere on BBC One later this year and on Amazon Prime Video in the U.S.
Two other films as part of McQueen’s anthology, “Mangrove” and “Red, White and Blue,” will also have their world premieres as part of the festival. The full main slate for the New York Film Festival will be announced in the coming weeks.
Also Read: Toronto Film Festival Lineup to...
- 8/3/2020
- by Brian Welk
- The Wrap
Steve McQueen, the Oscar-winning director of “12 Years a Slave” and “Shame,” is best known for his searing big-screen work. So it is fitting that the New York Film Festival would turn to the British auteur to kick off its 58th edition with his new work “Lovers Rock. McQueen joins a long list of cinema legends such as Martin Scorsese, Clint Eastwood, and David Fincher, all of whom have had the opening night film at the annual gathering of movie-lovers.
But this is a year unlike any other in the history of film festivals, with the coronavirus scuttling best-laid plans and forcing organizers to change things up on the fly. Thus it makes sense that the film that McQueen is highlighting isn’t a “movie” in the strictest definition. Rather, it is part of the filmmaker’s Small Ax anthology series, a chapter in a collection of original films that...
But this is a year unlike any other in the history of film festivals, with the coronavirus scuttling best-laid plans and forcing organizers to change things up on the fly. Thus it makes sense that the film that McQueen is highlighting isn’t a “movie” in the strictest definition. Rather, it is part of the filmmaker’s Small Ax anthology series, a chapter in a collection of original films that...
- 8/3/2020
- by Brent Lang
- Variety Film + TV
The New York Film Festival has announced its opening night film as well as plans for its physical events. The 58th edition of the festival will open with Steve McQueen’s “Lovers Rock,” with the festival also playing home to two other features that comprise McQueen’s ambitious new “Small Axe” series in its main slate. As indicated by festival brass earlier this summer, this year’s NYFF is going to operate differently than it has in previous incarnations. The event will combine a brand-new virtual presence with carefully designed outdoor screenings, including two drive-ins.
McQueen’s “Small Axe” anthology is set to premiere on BBC One later this year and air on Amazon Prime Video in the U.S. Per the series’ official synopsis, it is “set from the late 1960s to the mid-1980s, the films each tell a different story involving London’s West Indian community, whose...
McQueen’s “Small Axe” anthology is set to premiere on BBC One later this year and air on Amazon Prime Video in the U.S. Per the series’ official synopsis, it is “set from the late 1960s to the mid-1980s, the films each tell a different story involving London’s West Indian community, whose...
- 8/3/2020
- by Kate Erbland
- Indiewire
The film will join two others from McQeen’s Small Axe anthology in the New York line-up.
Steve McQueen’s Lovers Rock will get its world premiere as the opening night film of this year’s New York Film Festival (NYFF), set to run September 25 to October 11.
The film is part of McQueen’s BBC-commissioned anthology series Small Axe and two other films from the anthology – Mangrove and Red, White And Blue - will also get their world premieres as part of the NYFF main slate, which will be announced in coming weeks.
The 58th edition of the festival,...
Steve McQueen’s Lovers Rock will get its world premiere as the opening night film of this year’s New York Film Festival (NYFF), set to run September 25 to October 11.
The film is part of McQueen’s BBC-commissioned anthology series Small Axe and two other films from the anthology – Mangrove and Red, White And Blue - will also get their world premieres as part of the NYFF main slate, which will be announced in coming weeks.
The 58th edition of the festival,...
- 8/3/2020
- by 31¦John Hazelton¦0¦
- ScreenDaily
The film will join two others from McQeen’s Small Axe anthology in the New York line-up.
Steve McQueen’s Lovers Rock will get its world premiere as the opening night film of this year’s New York Film Festival (NYFF), set to run September 25 to October 11.
The film is part of McQueen’s BBC-commissioned anthology series Small Axe and two other films from the anthology – Mangrove and Red, White And Blue - will also get their world premieres as part of the NYFF main slate, which will be announced in coming weeks.
The 58th edition of the festival,...
Steve McQueen’s Lovers Rock will get its world premiere as the opening night film of this year’s New York Film Festival (NYFF), set to run September 25 to October 11.
The film is part of McQueen’s BBC-commissioned anthology series Small Axe and two other films from the anthology – Mangrove and Red, White And Blue - will also get their world premieres as part of the NYFF main slate, which will be announced in coming weeks.
The 58th edition of the festival,...
- 8/3/2020
- by 31¦John Hazelton¦0¦
- ScreenDaily
Steve McQueen has been working on his anthology television series “Small Axe” for quite some time (a first look at the ambitious project dropped in September 2019), but new information about the project has emerged in the wake of two installments being included in the Cannes 2020 official selection. The BBC confirms McQueen has conceived each episode of “Small Axe” as its own feature film. The two entries that were selected for Cannes are “Lovers Rock” (a runtime of 1 hour and 8 minutes) and “Mangrove (a runtime of 2 hours and four minutes). The remaining three films are titled “Alex Wheatle,” “Education,” and “Red, White and Blue.”
According to the BBC’s official synopsis, the five films of “Small Axe” tell “personal stories about London’s West Indian community from the late-1960’s to mid-1980’s. The title is derived from an African proverb, which has resonance throughout the Caribbean, ‘if you are the big tree,...
According to the BBC’s official synopsis, the five films of “Small Axe” tell “personal stories about London’s West Indian community from the late-1960’s to mid-1980’s. The title is derived from an African proverb, which has resonance throughout the Caribbean, ‘if you are the big tree,...
- 6/3/2020
- by Zack Sharf
- Indiewire
“12 Years a Slave” and “Shame” director Steve McQueen has dedicated his pair of Cannes-selected films to George Floyd.
McQueen’s films “Mangrove” and “Lovers Rock” — both part of the director’s BBC-commissioned “Small Axe” anthology, consisting of five feature-length stories — have been selected for Cannes, which revealed its line-up today despite not going ahead with a physical festival this year.
“I dedicate these films to George Floyd and all the other black people that have been murdered, seen or unseen, because of who they are, in the U.S., U.K. and elsewhere,” said McQueen. “‘If you are the big tree, we are the small axe.’ Black Lives Matter.”
McQueen’s comments come the same day as a massive protest was staged in London’s Hyde Park for the Black Lives Matter movement. “Star Wars” actor John Boyega, who will also appear in one of the “Small Axe” films,...
McQueen’s films “Mangrove” and “Lovers Rock” — both part of the director’s BBC-commissioned “Small Axe” anthology, consisting of five feature-length stories — have been selected for Cannes, which revealed its line-up today despite not going ahead with a physical festival this year.
“I dedicate these films to George Floyd and all the other black people that have been murdered, seen or unseen, because of who they are, in the U.S., U.K. and elsewhere,” said McQueen. “‘If you are the big tree, we are the small axe.’ Black Lives Matter.”
McQueen’s comments come the same day as a massive protest was staged in London’s Hyde Park for the Black Lives Matter movement. “Star Wars” actor John Boyega, who will also appear in one of the “Small Axe” films,...
- 6/3/2020
- by Manori Ravindran
- Variety Film + TV
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